Golf Course News: Oneidas building on casino, golf successes

ONEIDA, N.Y. - The Oneida Indian Nation has broken ground for construction of the first of two new golf courses to complement its Shenandoah Golf Club at Turning Stone Casino.

"What the nation is looking to do is to shift Turning Stone from a casino that has a golf course to a golf destination that happens to have a casino," said Mark Emery, a spokesman for the Oneida Nation.

The decision to build the two new courses was based on the increased demand for golf in the area surrounding the casino, Emery said.

"Golf is very popular here, and people have been thrilled with the Shenandoah course," he said. "This will give the resort a new look and a lot more to offer."

The Oneida Nation has spared no expense in designing the two courses by hiring two of the biggest names in golf course design. Robert Trent Jones Jr. and Tom Fazio have designed the two new 18-hole courses and will oversee the projects. The Jones course is under construction with a June 2003 opening scheduled, and the Fazio course is slated to open in June 2004.

Joe Baidy, director of golf courses and grounds will work with Landscapes Unlimited, which also developed the Shenandoah course, on the construction of the two new courses. Baidy said getting the Jones course opened by next June is going to take a lot of hard work.

"It is going to be intensive and it's on the fast track," he said. "All parties concerned are working together real well and things are moving."

The Jones course will begin and end near the existing practice facility at Shenandoah. For Jones, the opportunity to work on a course in the upstate New York area is special.

"My father and mother attended college in the Finger Lakes region, and the Robert Trent Jones course at Cornell University, designed by and named for my father, established a legacy that I will endeavor to follow in this new project," Jones said.

The Fazio course will be located about two miles from Shenandoah. Fazio said he sees that course as being an incredible place when it is completed.

"Since the golf course site is very special in character and beauty, I envision the finished course to be a `must see' golf course for golf enthusiasts," he said.

In addition to the two 7,300-- plus-yard courses, the resort is working on a 70,000-square-foot expansion of the casino, and recently completed a new 24,000-- square-foot clubhouse at Shenandoah. Emery said these are not the only projects planned at the resort.

"The casino expansion is underway, and there will probably be additional developments down the road," he said.

Baidy said all of the current and future projects are part of the nation's overall plan to create the best destination resort the possible.

"We constantly strive to reach the next plateau, and this will carry up through the other two courses," he said. "These projects have been discussed for some time, and I think this was the opportune time to do them."